The Curious Case Of The Dogs In The Nighttime
by headinthetardis
Summary: My first ever fanfic!I hope you like it! A Doctor Who fic set during Ten's 's not romance or anything-it was just an idea in my head Enjoy! :)
1. Chapter 1

The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS,expecting to see a white sunny beach with swarms of people. Instead, what he saw was a deserted alleyway in what looked like 19th century Britain.

"This isn't the Great Seashore of Zvahaltana" he said disappointedly (after his recent escapade with Toclafanes and Time Lords and then nearly crashing the Titanic into Buckingham Palace, he had been looking for somewhere nice and sunny).He hopped out of the blue box and walked down the alley. It was a typical cobbled path with small houses and shops along it-nothing out of the ordinary. Except, of course, for the fact that there were no people in sight. "Now that's odd .Where is everybody? And why," he said, squinting his eyes into the misty path ahead "is it so foggy?" His curiosity aroused, he walked faster, and saw straight ahead of him a young boy running off to the left.  
"Oi!" He cried, running after him. The boy stopped in his tracks and looked around. "Hello", said the Doctor, giving him one of his charming grins. "Hello" replied the boy, staring at the Doctor with his eyes narrowed, as if he were analysing him. Apparently unable to deduce anything, he asked "Who are you?"  
"I'm the Doctor."  
"Doctor who?"  
"Nothing. Just the Doctor"  
"But what kind of Doctor? A medical one? Or a scientist or an academic of some sort?"

The Doctor grinned widely and said "Everything" with a twinkle in his eyes.  
The boy began to speak, and managed a confused "but" before the Doctor cut him off  
"That's enough questions from you-now it's my turn! Where were you running off to?"  
"Home. I'm late-I was supposed to be there by 5."  
"Hmm. and where is home?"  
"Oh it's just a bit further from here"  
"Yes, but where is here? Where am I?"  
The boy gave him a wary look.  
"Are you drunk, sir?"  
"Nah-I was just bopped over the head. Woke up unconscious-couldn't remember a thing!" He replied, sounding as though being a bopped over the head was a delightful thing that happened to him every day.  
"So," he pressed on, "Where am I?"  
"You're in Edinburgh, sir"  
"Oh no, enough with the "sir"! Just-The Doctor."  
"Okay, Doctor"

"Brilliant. And what can I call you?  
"Arthur"  
"and how old are you, Arthur?"  
"12"  
"Right. Also, can you tell me what year it is?" he said, adding "I was was hit very hard" as an afterthought.  
"Right, well, It's 1873"  
"Hmmm. Interesting. Right then, Arthur-you were going home weren"t you? Let's go then!" said the Doctor, beginning to walk ahead  
"Hang on a minute!" protested Arthur "I can't just take you home like that! I don't even know who you are!"  
"Oh right,sorry,my mistake" said the Doctor, fumbling around his coat pockets till he finally pulled out a small rectangular piece of paper and held it up for Arthur to see. "I'm an investigator from the Society of..Investigating...Stuff." he said, and quickly stuffed the paper back into his pocket.  
Arthur's face lit up at the word "investigate". "Really? Fascinating! What are you investigating?"  
"Stuff. What sort of stuff has been going around here? Something very strange I assume, going by the fact that the streets are so...isolated."  
"You're quite right-very strange stuff indeed! All those people disappearing-the whole town's scared! That's why no one's out at this time. This is when the fog comes"  
"Fog? What fog?"  
"This fog. The mist-makes it harder for people to see, doesn't it? Harder to see, and easier to get abducted"  
"Right…These people that disappear-have any of them been found?"  
"No, si-umm, of the earliest...well...they were found dead.  
The Doctor merely nodded, his face looking into the distance, frowning with , he snapped out of it and smiled at Arthur.  
"Well then-we wouldn't want you to be caught, would we? Let's go home then!"

"Doctor Who?"  
"Nothing! Just-The Doctor!" explained the Doctor exasperatedly to Arthur's mother.  
"Don't worry, mother, he's an investigator!"  
"Oh off you go again with your investigation nonsense! With your deductions and analyses and what not" muttered his mother.  
"No-Arthur's right ma'am, I am an investigator" said the Doctor, flashing the psychic paper at her.  
"OH! "She exclaimed, "You're here to investigate those horrible disappearances and deaths, aren't you?" The Doctor nodded and strode into the house.  
"Well then, we'll do anything we can to help!"  
"Good! I'd like to ask you some questions. Number one-How many people have been taken? Number two-does the mist come every day at the same time? And number three-what about the dogs?"  
While his mother looked confused, unable to give a proper response too so many questions simultaneously, Arthur responded clearly.  
"Around seven people have been taken till now. Three of them are dead. The mist comes every day at the same time and I'm sorry what did you say about the dogs?"  
"Dogs. While coming here I saw a few dogs walking about the streets"  
"Well of course-they're strays"  
"So nothing's been happening to the dogs then?"  
Arthur looked quite puzzled. "No...I don't think so...what does it matter? They're dogs."  
The Doctor had that distant look on his face again-like he was somewhere else, running through stores of information, or doing a thousand calculations, all at once in his head.  
"Right, of course, it doesn't matter" he said, still maintaining that look. "All these people that are found dead-what do they die of?"  
"We don't know" said Arthur's mother. "The police inspected them and they said that they haven't got a cause of death quite yet."  
"Yes, but..." started Arthur, glancing uncertainly at his mother  
"But what?" Asked the Doctor sharply.  
"Well. It's just that people are saying that the police are hiding something. They say that the people that were found were…Torn apart…They had been ripped to pieces…as if mauled by some vicious beast...and their bodies were slashed and.."  
"Rubbish." said Arthur's mother firmly, cutting him off mid-sentence. "That is all rubbish. Nothing but rumours spread by mischief-makers to cause panic"  
"well, there's always some truth behind rumours."  
"Be as that may" she said sternly "There's no reason to go spreading it around town, creating fear I peoples" minds. We ought to just let the police do their work peacefully. They'll catch the criminals within no time."  
"Yeah I'm sure they will" the Doctor muttered under his breath.  
"Well then," he said, suddenly jumping out of his seat "I'll be off!" He headed towards the door, but Arthur ran across the room and blocked his way.  
"You can't go outside!" he exclaimed.  
"Sure I can have to go outside and investigate!"  
"Well then I want to come too!"  
"You can't! It"s too dangerous!"  
"Well how come it's all right for you?"  
"Well I'm a professional. From the Society of Investigating Stuff"  
He walked around Arthur and put his hand on the doorknob. Just before turning it, he turned around and looked at Arthur's mother  
"Make sure he doesn't come out." he said.  
She nodded, and said "But what if you get caught?"  
His eyes twinkled in that mysterious way again. He grinned widely and said "Oh I'm counting on it" before shutting the door behind him.

"I thought I told you not to follow me!" The Doctor exasperatedly told Arthur.  
He had been walking through the streets, just generally observing things, when he saw Arthur peeking at him from behind a wall.  
"Yes, but I want to investigate too! Please let me come with you?"  
The Doctor looked like he was about to argue, but then he changed his mind. "Oh all right," he said "but you have to be careful! Don"t go wandering off or anything!"  
"Yes I promise I won't!"  
" ," said the Doctor, walking into the deserted Town Square  
"Where were we? Ah-the fog."  
"What about it?"  
"Well...it's just very odd, it's not regular fog...it feels funny"  
"the fog feels funny?"  
"Yes. And it's not equally distributed" he said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and scanning the area around him. Arthur's eyes widened at the sight of the sonic device. "What is that?" he asked, his face lighting up with wonder.  
"It's a screwdriver." The Doctor replied, putting down the screwdriver with a slightly confused look on his face  
"That's odd"  
"what is?"  
"The fog. The mist. Its concentration levels are higher in some areas than others. Which brings me to the dogs."  
"Why do you keep asking about the dogs?" asked Arthur, nonplussed  
"Because nothing seems to be happening to them."  
"Well obviously! Who would want to kidnap a stray mongrel?"  
"No, I'm not talking about the kidnappings! I'm talking about the fog. The dogs aren't affected by it, but all the humans are scared of it-it makes it difficult for them to see. Take a look at you-you've been bumbling around and tripping and falling because of it. But the dogs are moving around perfectly all right-their eyesight is fine. Now why is that?"  
"I don't know" replied Arthur, baffled.  
"Let's go find out then! Right-first of all, we need to find a dog."

He started walking ahead with Arthur beside him, both of them clicking their fingers and whistling and Arthur shouting "Here doggie!" in the hopes of finding a dog. They continued moving this way, till the finally found a large canine at the end of an alley. Arthur clapped his hands and whistled, beckoning the dog towards them. The Doctor stood still, staring at the dog with that same look of concentration. The dog sat there unmoving, oblivious to Arthur's calls, its gaze fixed on the Doctor.  
"What's different about you?" muttered the Doctor under his breath  
"Oh…oh! OH!" he exclaimed, each "oh" getting progressively louder as sudden realisation dawned on him.  
"Hmm yes-I see!" he continued, his enlightenment spurring him into action as he paced, and ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly "The collar-a filter-of course! But how..." He took a step towards the dog, when it suddenly opened its mouth widely.  
"Arthur! Step back! "Cried the Doctor, hurriedly retracing his steps. A green gas coming out of the hound's mouth was the last thing he saw before the darkness enveloped him as he and Arthur fell unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor woke up with a start. As his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit surroundings, he saw that he was chained to a chair in a large room.  
"Arthur! "He cried, looking around for his young companion.  
"Doctor!" Replied Arthur, from a metal table to which he was chained. "What's going on?"  
"Don't worry Arthur, I'll get you out of there!"  
The Doctor studied the room. It was large, but completely unlit except for the light coming from the machines that were placed around the room.  
"It looks like a laboratory, or medical room of some sort" he said.  
At that moment, the lights suddenly switched on, and the dog they had seen in the alleyway entered the room.  
"Doctor! It's the dog! What's it doing here? What's going on?" cried Arthur  
"Yes, Arthur, I know" replied the Doctor "But you're no ordinary dog are you now? Show yourself!"  
The collar on the dog's neck began to glow, and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, there stood a large strange creature in the dog's place.  
Arthur gave a small high-pitched yell of shock  
"what just happened?!How did that dog change into...into... THAT?!"  
"THAT" was a creature with the head of a vicious looking wolf on top of a humanoid body covered with fur. It was wearing a suit of black and shiny material.  
As if in response to the boy's question, the creature said, in a deep guttural voice, "I am Tommen III of the S.S COSMOS from The Intergalactic Republic Of Planet Basker V."  
To everyone's surprise, the Doctor laughed loudly. "You're a dog and your name's Tommy? Ha! How original!" he said, and continued laughing.  
"Silence!" growled Tommen III  
"Oh c'mon! Even you've got to admit that's funny!" he said merrily, barely supressing a chuckle  
"Do not insult me! I hold your life in my hands-I can crush it with ease if I so wish!"  
Up until this point, Arthur, paralysed with fear and shock, had been rendered speechless by everything that was going on. At this point, however, he suddenly snapped out of it and asked loudly "Doctor! What's going on?!I don't understand! Who-WHAT is that?!"  
"That is a Lykoi, from planet Basker No.5," explained the Doctor calmly "He's an alien, Arthur, he's not from our world"  
"But that isn't possible!" howled Arthur, by now very confused and descending into hysteria  
"I'm afraid it is, ," said the Doctor gently, in a soothing voice "You're going to be okay.I will get you out of here will be okay."  
"What do you want from us Tommen?" said the Doctor to the Lykoi  
"Nothing from are not human. We need human bodies for our research, like the one of your little friend here" replied Tommen, as he stepped towards the table on which Arthur was secured. He picked up an injection and what seemed to be a surgical knife from a tray. But the instruments were not proper ones-they were crude and blunt, instead of sharp and precise, like you would expect surgical equipment to be.  
"Now, wait-hang on a minute," began the Doctor. The Lykoi ignored him and stood over Arthur, his instruments poised.  
"Doctor! Help!" screamed Arthur  
"Wait! You can't do that! Just wait for a minute! Listen to me!" yelled the Doctor at the same time.  
Tommen paid no heed to their protests and continued with his work. He bent over Arthur and placed the knife on his chest. He was just about to cut through Arthur's skin, when suddenly, at that precise moment, the lights went out.  
"Oh not again!" Grumbled Tommen under his breath. He put down the instruments and walked out of the room. The Doctor heaved a sigh of relief.  
"Whew! That was close! Now then," he said, peering into his coat "If I could just reach it..." He bent his head into his coat "Aha!" He exclaimed, pulling out the sonic screwdriver from his inner coat pocket with is teeth. He dropped it into his open palm and then twisted it around so that it was pointing at the locks that bound his wrists to the chair. He unlocked them, and then did the same for the locks on his legs and the chain around his torso. He jumped out of his chair and used the sonic screwdriver to help Arthur out of his chains. While the Doctor had been doing all this ,Arthur had been trying to wrap his head around the situation-around the fact that he a was inside a strange room with a man he had only just met and had almost been dissected by an alien that was disguised as a dog. Needless to say, his efforts had been in vain, for all this was simply too much for a fourteen year old boy to process. He was trying to stay calm and divorce himself from the feelings of panic and fear that were welling up inside him, but his emotions got the better of him.  
"Doctor! "He screamed, once he had been freed. "Can you please explain to me what is going on?" He said in a strained voice.  
"Well, I'm not exactly sure,- and I might be wrong, but I'm usually right about these sort of things, so I'll tell you what I know, while I'm figuring out the bits I don't know" he said, running towards the door. Arthur followed him, and they stepped out into a dimly-lit corridor.  
"Doctor, where are we?" asked Arthur as they walked rapidly along the hallway  
"We are aboard an alien spaceship-the S.S COSMOS according to Tommy over there."  
"And what was that …creature?"  
"That was a Lykoi are a species of the planet Basker V, located in the Cumber galaxy"  
"But...but...it was a moment it was a dog, and the next-it was that ...that thing...the Lykoi-How?!"  
The Doctor began to explain, talking very fast.  
You saw that collar he was wearing? That was a perception filter. It was changing your perception of it so that you couldn't see its true form. That explains how they've been going around capturing people without drawing attention to themselves-nobody pays attention to the dogs! The question is though, why the mist? Modern perception filters are developed enough not to require fog as an additional vision alterer, but some of the older ones do. No one uses them anymore though, except for the ones..."  
He stopped dead in his tracks, realisation dawning on him "except for the ones kept as emergencies on ships! Of course! They crash-landed! They must've lost their equipment in the crash and are using the emergency supplies. That would explain those horrible crude surgical instruments. It would also explain the constant power cuts-repair work causes fluctuations. Oh look! Here we are!" They had reached a small nook in wall which had a large screen on tithe Doctor walked straight towards it and pointed his screwdriver at the screen. It hummed to life and displayed the ships vital statistics along with schematic diagrams.  
"Right then." said the Doctor, looking at the screen "We need to find out what the Lykoi are doing here" He reached inside his coat for his screwdriver, but then seemed to notice something on the side of the screen. "Ohhhh it's one of those...brilliant!"  
"Computer! State the purpose of the Lykoi on planet Earth!" he said loudly  
"The Lykoi have come to planet Earth in order to research and gather information for Project Recuperation VI" said a cool female voice  
"What's Project Recuperation VI?"  
"The planet Basker V has been used to its maximum capacity and must now be abandoned for it contains inadequate resources to sustain its extensive population. The project is aimed at finding a new habitat for the has been chosen as the most suitable for Lykoi rehabilitation."  
"But hang on a minute, the Earth has its own 'extensive population'. It can't support humans and Lykoi"

"The human race will be eliminated to make way for Lykoi recuperation"  
"No, I'm afraid it will not be eliminated-not while I'm around say, just in case,you would be able to do something like that- how exactly would you go about destroying a population of seven billion humans with one broken down ship?"  
"The S.S Cosmos is merely a research ship whose mission is to gather information about the indigenous population and establish a battle plan that attacks weaker human characteristics. This plan will be established at Planet Basker V to which the SS COSMOS will return after its research mission has been completed. Once this plan of attack has been finalised the battleships will implement it on planet Earth."  
"That's not good" said the Doctor  
"Doctor," said Arthur, his confusion increasing and his fear mounting, "Can you please explain to me what's going on?"  
"Right Arthur, we're in a bit of a hurry, so I'll give you the brief version, shall The Lykoi are an alien species from planet Basker 're are a kind of semi-nomadic people. They have a history of over-utilising the resources of whatever planet they inhabit and when that happens, they just move to another one. They've inhabited around 50 planets till now,including10 Zoltars,8 Strongars,7 Drallfens and 5 they've done it again and are looking for a sixth seems to be a good match for them, but there's a tiny problem -the Earth's already inhabited, so being the dogs-literally-that they are, they decided that eliminating the existing population would be the best thing to ,they send out a research team to find out more about humans, and all their weak points, so that it's easier for them to be 's why all those people have been disappearing-the Lykoi have been abducting them so that they can be dissected. Did you get all that Arthur?"  
Arthur still looked very confuse, but he nodded "Yes..." he said slowly "I think I understand."  
"Brilliant!" said the Doctor, smiling "You're a smart boy Arthur!"  
Arthur returned the smile tentatively. "So how long are they going to stay here? They can't keep taking people and killing them!"

"Good question Arthur," replied the Doctor. He turned to the screen and asked "Computer! How much of the mission is left?"  
"95% of mission has been completed.5% remains."  
"And what is this 5%?"  
"The data collection on the human progeny"  
"Kids! That's why they took Arthur! How much time us left before you fly back to your planet?"  
"Approximately 24 hours  
"Oh good! We have time then!"  
But at that moment, the computer screen flashed red. "News update" it said "The S.S Cosmos will commence its return journey in 2 hours"  
"What?!" exclaimed the Doctor "But how can you? You never got a chance to examine the child!"

"It has been determined that the human progeny is characteristically similar to the parent. Its examination is not required."  
"But still-you can't leave! Your ship's broken down!"  
"Maintenance work is in progress. It will be completed in 2 hours.  
"Uh-oh" said the Doctor, his eyes wide "that's not good... that's very not good!"

"Commander, the boy and the Time Lord have escaped."  
"Where are they now?"  
"They are in west corridor 7, agents near Screen D45 report that they have acquired information about Project Recuperation VI. Should we order the attack, sir?"  
" them to keep following him. Going by our previous knowledge of Time Lords, he is undoubtedly more technologically advanced than we are. If he tries to stop us by changing the systems, we will be unable to reverse what he does,unless we know what changes he has made and the soldiers to keep observing his actions and reporting them."  
"Yes,sir."


	3. Chapter 3

"What is it ,Doctor?"  
"Well,it seems that the Lykoi have finished their "re going to leave the planet in two hours."  
"But that's good,isn't it?They'll be gone!No more people will die!"  
"For this is just a research ship,remember?Once they go back,they'll formulate a plan of then the battleships will come." replied the Doctor upon seeing the look of pure terror on Arthur's face ,he quickly added, "But don't worry-we'll stop them! Trust me, I'm the Doctor." He smiled reassuringly.  
Arthur, however, wasn't reassured. "How will I be fine Doctor?!" he cried, the panic in his voice rising "There are creatures from a world about to attack ours! How can any of this be happening?!Isn't there some sort of inter-galactic police that takes care of things like this? This is madness..." He was cut short by the Doctor, who, up till this point had merely opening and closing his mouth as though he couldn't decide whether to pacify Arthur, or just let him finish his rant and let go of his emotions. When Arthur, mentioned "Inter-galactic police" however, his mind suddenly lit up with an idea and he was compelled to do the former.  
"Inter-galactic police? Well of course there is one! Now why didn't I think of that?"  
Arthur was confused. "Think of what?"  
"Oh Arthur you brilliant man!" exclaimed the Doctor, pulling Arthur into a hug.  
"Err...thank you" said Arthur awkwardly "but what exactly did I do?"  
"You've given me an idea! A rather brilliant one, actually," replied the Doctor merrily. "We actually do have an Inter-Galactic police. It's called the Shadow Porclamation,and according to their laws, what the Lykoi are doing are ,all we have to do, is send them to The Shadow Proclamation so that they can be arrested, and judging by the look of this ship, and my previous knowledge of the Lykoi-that shouldn't be too hard!"  
Arthur had a billion questions in is head, ranging from what species the Shadow Proclamation consisted of, to how many laws there were-but, knowing that time was short, he suppressed them and aske the one that bothered him the most- "Why shouldn't it be too hard? How can we just transport this entire ship to what I'm assuming is a completely different planet?"  
"Well," and at this point, Arthur had the feeling that The Doctor was about launch into a rapidly spoken monologue about alien topics he knew nothing of, filled with technological jargon he couldn't possibly understand and the odd word or two that seemed like it had been made up by a five year old.  
Arthur was not disappointed.  
"Well, the Lykoi are a fairly primitive species, technologically speaking, which is why they choose planets that are either not inhabited or inhabited by an even more primitive species, like the humans,So,knowing and going by their ship, which isn't very fancy-shmancy at all, I think it's safe to assume that the S.S COSMOS runs on a fairly simple warp drive engine with a navigation system that has a pre-determined destination embedded into its ,to send them to the Shadow Proclamation, I'd just have to hack into their mainframe, replace the coordinates of Basker V with the ones of the Shadow Proclamation into its self-controlled navigational router, cover it up with an Absconderean concealer so that they don't find out what I've done and an Immobiliator for when they do-which is quite unnecessary really, because it'll already be too late by then-but just in case. Piece of cavemen? "He finished, grinning proudly at Arthur.  
"Err.."Arthur was unsure of how to respond  
"Well don't just stand there Arthur! We've got a planet to save! Allons-y!" and with that, he ran out of the room, Arthur hot on his heels.  
They come out into the corridor again, and turned right.  
"Where are we going? Asked Arthur  
"To the control room"  
"Right…and you're sure this plan's going to work?"  
" ...well-about 65% sure"  
"65%?!" said Arhur incredulously "Is that it?!"  
"Well,you see, I've based my entire plan on the assumption that the Lykoi are still in their primitive age, and this isn't their advanced ,I can be wrong about this-I often get this kind of thing wrong, actually-but don't worry, I'm 65% sure I'm right."  
"And that's enough for you?"  
"Well, usually I don't even have a plan, so the fact that I do have one this time-even if I'm 35% unsure about it, shows that I am improving, and hence no one should criticise me."  
"Right" said Arthur, too baffled and tried to try and question the Doctor any more-except for the one question that was pressing on his mind  
"Doctor" he began tentatively "You're not human are you?"  
The Doctor looked at Arthur, uncertain of how to respond "How did you know?"  
"Well, firstly, that Lykoi said , your device-the sonic screwdriver-it's nothing like I've ever seen-it must be from another planet. And thirdly, when you hugged me, I'm quite sure I heard two hearts beating"  
The Doctor chuckled "Well, you're right on all accounts Arthur" he said  
"What planet are you from then?" asked Arthur excitedly  
"A planet called Galifrey...I'm a Time Lord"  
Arthur was visibly impressed-a Time Lord! He hadn't the faintest idea what a Time Lord was, but just the fact that he was with a being from another world (a very intelligent being at that) was awe-inspiring  
He was just about to voice his thoughts, when they reached their destination  
"Ah!here it is!" said the Doctor, walking into a fairly sized room, its walls made of steel panels and the front of it covered by a large screen with a console beneath console was covered with several buttons and knobs, as were several portions of the walls. There was also another door on the side of the room. The Doctor turned to the big screen and brought out his sonic screwdriver, as well as a pair of glasses that he wore right away "Right then," he said, pointing it at the screen "First, we have to get into the system…right…Now to put in the…Okay, woops, slight glitch there…okay,fixed…and now.." he murmured to himself, while pushing a variety of buttons knobs on the control panel below him. After several minutes of this, he finally took his attention away from the screen and bent down to the part below the control panel. He dislodged on of the metal plates with his sonic screwdriver to reveal an infinitely complex arrangement of wires that comprised the inner mechanisms of the console.  
"Okay now," he said, peering in and inspecting the tangled mass of wires "to find the right one...ah!" He exclaimed, pulling out a red wire and a blue wire. "Now I just have to.." he muttered to himself, positioning the wires "there! All done!" he declared, straightening up and smiling widely, his hands in his pockets.  
"That's it? It's done?!"Said Arthur incredulously  
"Yup!" said the Doctor  
"just like that? They'll go away now?"  
"Oh yes!" replied the Doctor happily.  
Arthur still couldn't believe it-he didn't understand how the Doctor had accomplished something so seemingly complex and impossible just by pushing a few buttons and turning a few knobs and rearranging some wires. But Arthur had learnt to trust the Doctor, even though he had spent every little time with him. And besides, it didn't matter-for the were safe! As all these thoughts went through his head, his face broke out into a wide grin.  
"That's brilliant!" he cried and was about add several more aw-describing adjectives to that when he saw the Doctor's previously happy face turn suddenly into one of surprise. Arthur turned around to see what had cause this sudden change in emotions and found himself staring straight into the barrel of a gun (or what would have been a barrel had been an ordinary gun instead of an alien electronic one).He backed away slowly, the fear on his face very visible. "Doctor.." he began slowly "It; s all right Arthur, just step back slowly" said the Doctor, his eyes still fixed on the pack of Lykoi that had just entered the room from the side door and were now pointing their guns at them. The Commander stepped forth and said "Did you really think it would be that easy? We are a fairly primitive species, yes, but we are not so easily outwitted!"  
"How long have you been following us?"  
"Since you left the Medical Examination room. We observed you and waited for you to reveal, or implement your plan. Once you did just that, a few moments ago, we decided that it was time to put an end to this."  
"You saw what I did here then?"  
"Yes, and I must say-you're quite clever, and if we hadn't seen you make all those changes to the ship's systems,you might have ,unfortunately for you, we did see you, and now we know exactly what you did and have a fair idea of how to reverse it."  
"Right, well you seem to have everything sorted-you have no need of us now-so, umm, we'll be off then!" said the Doctor, beginning to walk towards the door at the front of the room.

"Halt!" shouted the Commander "You cannot leave-we actually do have need of you. You see, we have sufficient knowledge and technology to be able to get past the Absconderean concealer and reverse the change you made to the navigational router. The Immobiliator, however, is beyond us. We need you remove it for us."  
"Well, it's very kind of you to ask," said the Doctor, moving once again towards the door "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."  
"I'm afraid you don't have a choice, Doctor." Replied the Commander, "Seize the boy!" he ordered the Lykoi behind him. The Doctor and Arthur both yelled and shouted, but the Lykoi ignored their loud protests and grabbed Arthur.

"Undo what you have done." said the Commander "or the boy dies."  
"No! I will not endanger the lives of 6 billion people!"  
"I must remind you again, Doctor, that you have no choice!" yelled the Commander "Fix this! Now!"  
The Doctor was left with no alternative. He walked slowly towards the console, his jaw clenched and his face hard as stone. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the screen. He stood there like that for a few minutes, muttering incoherently under his breath, and occasionally changing the settings on the screwdriver. Then,once he was done, he turned towards the Commander, his face grave and his eyes visibly angry "I've done what you asked me to-now let him go!" he said forcefully. "Not so fast," replied the Commander "Officer Tommen! Check the systems, make sure he isn't fooling us."  
Tommen III stepped out at his command and went to the screen. He didn't have a sonic screwdriver of course, so he had to operate it manually-using the buttons on the side of the screen and the keypad below it. "He has done it, sir." Said Tommen after some time of working on the screen "I was able to get through the concealer and reverse the co-ordinates successfully. There was no hindrance"  
"see?" said the Doctor "I've done what you asked me to, so .GO."  
"Of course stay true to my word. Unfortunately however cannot merely let you walk out of here-you cannot know the ships location, and so I shall have to use a slightly different method of escorting you out." Said the Commander, as he pressed a button on his belt-a belt that looked suspiciously like the collar that Tom men had been wearing when he was in dog form. The Doctor realised what was happening, and began to protest, but was soon surrounded by the green gas, and fell unconscious once more.

The Doctor opened his eyes, slowly sitting up and taking a look at his surroundings. They were back in the same alley from where they had been abducted. Next to him, Arthur was slowly waking up as well. Upon seeing the Doctor, he quickly sat up. "Doctor!" he said, at first just observing his surroundings, then suddenly remembering all the things that had happened and descending into a state of panic "Where are we?..oh! We're back here…but...but the Lykoi! Doctor! They're going back! The battleships! The attack! They're going to eliminate the human race!"  
"Shhh calm down Arthur!" said the Doctor coolly, holding Arthur by the shoulder and helping him up, "No one's getting eliminated!"  
"But...but...you fixed it for them! You removed the...immobilia or whatever it was...and he reversed the coordinates...and...And they undid what you did! Our plan was foiled! They'll succeed Doctor!" cried Arthur, his eyes wide with fear  
"Well" said the Doctor, smiling mysteriously, "Not exactly."

"Commander, our systems are fixed and ready for take-off"  
"Good. Proceed with take-off, officer"  
the officer at the control panel entered the command into the system and kept a check on the vital statistics as the ship took off.  
"Take off has been successful, Commander."  
The Commander nodded, was about to exit the room, when suddenly an image flashed up on the large screen , wait-it wasn't an image-it was a video.  
"Hello there" said the Doctor from the video "If you're watching this video, then I suppose you have taken off successfully and are now on your way to Basker V-or so you think."  
"Officer what is going on?!" yelled the Commander  
"I don't know sir!" said the officer, pressing buttons on the panel in panic, trying to somehow switch off the video  
"But you see-you're not really going to Basker V." continued the Doctor on the screen "Did you really think it would be that easy Commander? What you didn't think I'd notice you following me? It wasn't hard, really-the empty corridors were a bit suspicious, and a pack of large talking dogs with guns isn't exactly inconspicuous!  
Anyways-back to the point-you're going to The Shadow Proclamation hope you enjoy it there-it's a lovely place-nice jail cells! And now you must be wondering how I fooled -it was quite don't know much about Immobilators do you? If you did, you would have known that the very point of them is that they cannot be changed. The technology was invented on my planet-we used it in our carrier ships-the ones that carried valuable information or products-so that no matter what you did to them, they would always come back. My people devised a clever way of doing this even when an enemy had captured it and changed its destination. The new coordinates would be displayed-tricking the enemy into thinking that that"s where the ship was actually going-but it was a trick. The ship would still be going to the original destination. When I installed an Immobilator in your ship, the destination had been set to The Shadow Proclamation, and that's what the Immobiliator's set to-and so that's where you're going!Clever,aren't I  
Also-you don't know Earth history very well either, do you?Because if you did" The Doctor's face changed. His merry playful grin vanished, and was replaced by a serious, threatening look-the kind of look that made his enemies want to run and hide and never again cross paths with this man, this oncoming storm. "You would have heard of The would have heard of would know that I have helped this planet more times than you can imagine, from enemies far more dangerous than your puny little canine brains could ever dream would know not to even attempt to attack this planet because IT. IS. DEFENDED!"

"So...they're going to be arrested? Our plan worked!" exclaimed Arthur gleefully. They were sitting inside his house once again and the Doctor had just finished explaining the entire story to Arthur  
"Oh yes!" said the Doctor, grinning "I sent word ahead to the Shadow Proclamation-The Earth is a Level 5 planet-an attempt to annihilate its entire population is illegal-they'll be arrested upon arrival."  
"That's brilliant!" said Arthur, his mind flooding with relief. He let go of the breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding all this while.  
The Doctor smiled at him "Well, my work here is done, it's time for me to go"  
"Right, of course-you must have so many other planets to save" said Arthur understandingly  
"Well,I don't know about that-but I certainly have a lot to visit!" replied the Doctor, standing up "Thank your mother for the tea, will you? Tell Mrs...Uhh...what's your last name?"  
"Doyle. Arthur Conan Doyle is my full name" he replied simply.  
The Doctor's eyes widened with surprise "No! You're Arthur Conan Doyle? No! I don't believe it!"  
"Uhh...I assure you, Doctor, that's my real is that so shocking?" asked Arthur, confused.  
"Nothing" said the Doctor, attempting at nonchalance "I just know somebody with the same name..."  
"Ah, of course. And the one you know-is he anything like me? " He asked jokingly  
"oh I don't know. Do you write stories by any chance, Arthur?" said the Doctor, his eyes gleaming.  
"Sometimes...I enjoy writing...and I was just thinking what a marvellous story this entire incident would make!" said Arthur, his face visibly excited  
"Oh really?"  
"Yes! 'The dogs of Basker V'-it would make an interesting title wouldn't it?" he asked the Doctor  
"Oh I don't know..."said the Doctor with a mysterious smile "I think 'hound' is a better word" he added and shut the door behind him.


End file.
